Best date ever
by xellos540
Summary: After the events of the manga Keima and Chihiro want to fix things between them and decide to go on a date together. They both take it seriously for once, certain that such trivialities as misbehaving hair, chance encounters, manly knights, smiling cows, raging blizzards, rabid dogs or unlucky dice rolls won't be able to ruin their dream date. What could possibly go wrong?


**Edit: fixed some minor plot holes.**

 **Hello, everyone!**

 **Here's a "little" one-shot I've written, a third one in a series of one-shots (after "Clash of ideals" with Jun and "In full bloom" with Kusunoki). This one is centered around Chihiro, so I hope all Chihiro fans will like it.**

 **Just a few more things before we start.**

 **First: this story takes place post-manga and contains some spoilers, especially** ** **with my love for referencing various KamiNomi stuff.****

 ** **Second: I don't own The World God Only Knows manga, anime or light novels.****

 ** **Third: for those waiting on my next chapter of KanonNomi – I'll get back to writing it soon, so don't worry (too much :P).  
****

 ** **Finally, this one-shot was conceived as a birthday present to Sir Sleeps-a-lot, so (a very late) happy birthday to you, Sir! I hope you'll like this! :)  
****

 ** **Now onto the chapter! Enjoy!****

 **(* * *)**

Keima Katsuragi furrowed his brow, unsatisfied with the results his efforts have produced.

He was currently in his bathroom in his house and for the last 10 minutes he had been fighting a losing battle. His allies were his own skills and a rarely-used comb, while his enemy was his bed hair that refused to obey.

This was ridiculous! This was his own hair! His own hair had betrayed him! And today of all days!

"Nii-sama!" there was a sudden knocking on the door. "You've been there for half an hour!" Eri Katsuragi said from outside the door. "I really need to use the bathroom!"

"You can wait five more minutes," Keima said back, knowing that on this particular day Eri couldn't just go fetch their mother to batter down the bathroom door.

After all, today Keima Katsuragi was going on a date.

A real date. With Chihiro.

It was Sunday on late November, some 2 weeks after the end of the entire Heaven-Hell ordeal. The gentle side of autumn had ended, leaving in favor of a truly winter weather, complete with considerable snowfall. However any joy one could have from frolicking in the snow was made next to impossible by the hard frost and nasty winds. It was at this time that the tense atmosphere between Keima, Chihiro and some other people became stable enough to try and move the thing between him and Chihiro further.

And thus, Keima had decided to ask Chihiro out on a date and Chihiro had agreed.

Obviously, the time of the year was not favorable – ice skating or anything like that was not really an option with a constant threat of blizzards. Keima also didn't want to settle on something too simple like seeing a movie or having a dinner at a restaurant. He wanted something more, something that could give him them a lot of opportunity for the entire day without them needing to worry about the winter. He wanted Chihiro to forget about cold and rain and sorrow.

Fortunately, there was such a place in Maijima that could serve his purpose.

Of course, Keima made a detailed plan, a few of them in fact, but he was painfully aware they'd be probably useless – Chihiro was one of the girls that taught him how fickle and troublesome the real was.

But his plan didn't account for his own hair betraying him!

"Nii-sama!" Eri was relentless, her voice now sounding desperate.

(* * *)

Keima left the house in less than stellar mood. Good news – his mother had helped him with the hair. Not so good news – she had done it with a pair of scissors (and Keima lately always had a weird feeling when seeing scissors) and cut off the offending lock of hair... and then a bit more. It was far from perfect, but the effect was acceptable.

Keima boarded the bus, finally being able to ignore the brutal onslaught of the weather, his mind now occupied with his upcoming date. It seemed both his physical attributes and the winter were against him, but Keima didn't let it discourage him. He was a God of Conquest after all – he fought for every heroine, even in very difficult, forgotten or bug-ridden games. Scratch that, once he had even conquered an actually cursed and haunted game.

He would not let this date become a failure, no matter what the real would attempt to throw at him.

(* * *)

*ding* *dong*

Keima could feel his hand become clammy as he pressed the bell on the gate to the Kosaka residence. It was his second time here since his confession three weeks ago. As expected – the building was a standard two-level western-style Japanese house on the outskirts of Maijima, fitting for a normal girl like Chihiro. If someone would be surprised that Chihiro had been living in a detached house instead of a small flat in an apartment block then the possible explanation was that it was near the edge of town, where the prices were lower.

His thoughts came to a halt when the door opened and he saw Chihiro coming out of the house similar to how it was three weeks ago, only this time Chihiro was dressed differently. Her clothes, as well as Keima's, were heavy and multi-layered to stave off the weather. Still, Keima could notice that Chihiro had done her pre-date preparations as well as he could see traces of make-up even through not that much of her face was visible. He could understand that – he had spent a lot of time fussing over his hair which were now hidden under his cap.

"Hey", Chihiro said, voice a bit unsure. That was no surprise as well, considering all that had happened between them.

"Hey", Keima said. It was a lame response, but he had come to learn to be very careful around Chihiro. Not only he had seen her react weirdly to some of his responses, but he also had to be mindful of her healing heart.

Chihiro shouted "I'm off!" and then approached the gate. On one hand Keima was (hopefully) prepared to meet Chihiro's parents, but he would rather avoid that. He could deal with them later, right now he wanted to limit the number of unknown flags outside of his control. He also didn't want to put more pressure on Chihiro. This was supposed to be a happy day.

"Kazuo!"

Chihiro had already opened the gate to walk out, when they heard a voice coming from inside the house, making both teens turn their heads. At this moment they could hear light pitter-patter sound and a yellow-ish shape shot out of the door. Before Chihiro could close the gate again, the shape whizzed past her and assaulted Keima's leg.

"Kazuo!" Chihiro shouted. "Let go!"

Kazuo, a fresh addition to the Kosaka family and a four months old Akita-breed dog, didn't seem to understand. He either treated Keima as an enemy or confused his trouser leg for a biting toy and tried to tear it to shreds.

"Let go!" Chihiro took the puppy into her hands. Kazuo only fidgeted in her arms as the girl carried him back to her house and handed him over to someone Keima couldn't see.

"I'm sorry about that", Chihiro said as she walked back to him and closed the gate, "Kazuo likes to bite anything new he sees."

"It's nothing," Keima replied with a straight face, making a mental note to watch out for the four-legged demon the next time he will be here. "Don't worry about it."

"But your pants," Chihiro said, her face looking positively guilty as she watched at the small rip on ankle level.

"I said not to worry," Keima said, "now, let us go."

(* * *)

"Dean Land?" Chihiro exclaimed as she was looking at the venue of their date.

Keima only nodded, congratulating himself on the idea.

Normally, when someone was asked whether they would want to spend their day off in Maijima City or Narusawa City, nearly everyone would say Narusawa City. It was just bigger and more tourism-oriented with a variety of attractions, domes, shops and the like. It had no shortage of quiet places and parks as well. Of course, Maijima had those too, but the levels of splendor of both cities were different.

Thus, if one were looking for a theme park the obvious choice for a long time was Dezeni Sea in Narusawa City. It was a big theme park that was there for quite some time, combining many attractions for kids, adult and couples. You could spend entire day there and not see everything.

And then Dean Land appeared in Maijima City.

Surprisingly, both places weren't directly competing. Dezeni Sea was an outdoor theme park covering a wide area. It had many visitors, but the sheer size made it so that larger groups of people appeared only in queues to particular attractions. It was a place appealing to a wide range of customers from near and far.

Dean Land, on the other hand, was not a theme park, but an entertainment center, focused less on leisurely walking and more on spending time actively. Moreover, Dean Land was not just any entertainment center – its specialty was cosplaying and thus it had more success with fans of anime and manga, providing them with a wide variety of costumes.

Thus, both Dezeni Sea and Dean Land had obvious differences and attracted different customers because of that.

However, the most important difference of all was that Dezeni Sea was an outdoor theme park, while Dean Land was just a single big multi-story building with all its attractions hidden in its inside.

Its warm, comfy and snow-free inside.

Thus, while Dezeni Sea was currently closed due to the season, Dean Land was flourishing, managing to gather customers even in this harsh weather. Inside the customers could forget about the cold and change their heavy coats to a variety of costumes and then just go and have fun. Bowling alleys, karaokes, hunted houses, restaurants, shops. There was even a roller-coaster and a pool with long sliding chutes.

Those reasons were exactly why Keima considered Dean Land to be the best, in the given winter conditions, venue for his first – well, second – date witch Chihiro.

And Keima was Hell-bent on making this date a success. Chihiro deserved it. He'll be damned if he'll let some insignificant events like winter or Chihiro's dog chewing on his pants get in his way today.

God of Conquest, show what you've got!

(* * *)

"I'm very sorry," the attendant at the costume desk said with a compassionate smile, "but it seems we are out of the princess costumes at the moment."

"Aah... too bad," Chihiro said with only a little bit of disappointment in her voice. Keima was less understanding.

What is that supposed to mean? Obviously a princess costume would be sought a lot, so they should have a lot of it prepared. How could all of them be rented at the same time!?

"Then I think I'll go for a singer costume." Chihiro said, "or maybe an idol one... what about you Katsuragi?"

Keima planned to choose a costume depending on what Chihiro chose, but he had prepared for that as well. What he wasn't prepared for was to be recognized.

"Aah...! Fashion consultant, is that you?"

Keima blinked and turned to the source of the voice. Impossible. It was half a year since he had last been here. There's now way they could remember him!

"Fashion consultant!" a Dean Land employee that Keima remembered appeared from behind the counter and all but dragged Keima. "Where have you been all this time? We could use you help right now!"

"W-wait!" Keima objected, but his pleas were ignored.

(* * *)

"The staff here knows you rather well," Chihiro noted. It had been only after fifteen minutes when Keima managed to get back to his date. Good news: Chihiro used that time to go through the outfits and was right now sporting a flashy idol stage outfit. Not so good news: that "little" interruption certainly wasn't helping the mood.

Well, at least Keima had changed his costume now as well – he swapped his winter jacket, shirt and dog-bitten pants for a green-silver costume completed with a green spiky wig. Apparently it was supposed to be some kind of a hero outfit. At least it didn't have giant grenades attached to the wrist like the other one.

As for Chihiro she wasn't upset because Keima was dragged away and left her alone for a while. No, the problem was that the staff of Dean Land knew Keima. That means he had been here before and her intuition told her it was with some girl. A girl different than her.

Chihiro bit her lip. It's not like it was unexpected. Her, Ayumi were a given and, if what she witnessed during the 2-B Pencils concert was any indication, there were 5 more girls who seemed to have some... connection with Keima, so it could be any one of them.

But it didn't matter, Chihiro lifted up her head, what's done is done. She should focus on here and now. And if any of those girls tries get in her way...

"So I assume you know this place rather well, right?" she asked Keima and before he could figure out a reply, she continued, "then lead the way."

(* * *)

They went for the bowling alley as Keima surmised the lively atmosphere and the opportunity to break some sweat will take Chihiro's mind off what happened earlier. And they could also order drinks and whatnot here.

"Yoshi! Here it goes," Chihiro went for it and hurled her ball toward the pins and watched as they collided.

"Strike!" the girl exclaimed happily, but it was a little premature as the last pin wobbled, but ultimately refused to go down.

"Oh, come on!" Chihiro complained.

"It's ok," Keima told her, "you're doing well anyway."

"Am I?" Chihiro glanced at the score screen and noticed the obvious. Her performance was below Keima's and just now was the only round during which she managed to topple more than 7 pins on her first throw and nearly half her throws ended up with the ball in the gutter, while Keima consistently hit at least 6 pins on his first throw each turn.

And, unbeknown to her, Keima had been holding back as well.

"Yes, you are," he told her. "This is not a tournament. We're here to have fun."

"I know that!" Chihiro said, noting how weird it was coming from him. He was right though. She should ignore her performance and focus on the fact that she was bowling with a guy on a date in clothes compared to which her concert outfit looked kind of plain and ordinary.

"All right," she said when next round came and hurled the ball without really aiming, letting off of her frustrations and worries along with the heavy item. The ball went straight down the lane and...

"STRIKE!"

Chihiro blinked. It was a strike all right, but she wasn't the one who yelled it. Moreover, that voice sounded familiar. Her and Keima turned to the lane to their right only to see a teenage girl in a sorceress outfit who danced a victory dance of sorts.

The girl spun around in place and then opened her eyes... only to have the smile disappear from her face in an instant.

"Chihiro?" she asked.

"Ayumi?" Chihiro replied.

The girl named Ayumi Takahara blinked and then slowly her gaze turned sideways and landed on Keima.

The boy didn't say anything even when he clearly saw a shadow pass through the dark-haired girl's face. It was only for a moment and then the girl smiled, a smile that was as radiant as it was forced.

"Are you two on a date?"

Chihiro immediately felt her face heat up.

"No! I mean yes, I mean.." the normal girl fumbled with her words. And why was Keima quiet?

As for Keima, he was torn on what to do. Being friendly with Ayumi could certainly be dangerous, but if he tried to drive her off he could end up with a dislocated jaw and that might make Chihiro mad. Perhaps it was better to just stay out of it. He remembered all too well what had happened the last time he had gone between the two of them while they had been interacting with each other.

"It's all right," Ayumi said cheerfully, "I'm happy for you both," she added, though Chihiro felt that neither of the three of them was convinced.

Chihiro swallowed and decided to change the topic. "Are you here alone?"

Before Ayumi could reply another voice interjected.

"Sorry it took me this long, but there was queue to the-" the new person stopped the sentence mid-word.

The newcomer was a boy. He was not very tall, just an inch or two taller than Ayumi. His outfit matched the RPG game setting just like Ayumi's – while Ayumi was dressed like a sorceress with a pointy hat the guy was dressed like a warrior or a knight. His body was covered with fake but still authentic looking armor and he had a plastic sword hanging from his hip. It would be a perfectly good opportunity for Chihiro to tease Ayumi about her being here with a guy, if it weren't for one tiny detail.

The guy was not a guy.

"Oh, hey it's Chihiro,"

"Y-Yui?" Chihiro couldn't believe it.

"That's me," Yui Goidō remarked as she set the drinks on her and Ayumi's table. Then she stopped again, and took a sniff. She walked past Chihiro and approached the chairs on Chihiro and Keima's lane and then looked behind them.

"I knew my Keima-kun senses were tingling!" she exclaimed happily, before she all but jumped on Keima.

"Get off me!" the boy panicked, correctly guessing what effect Yui's closeness would have on him.

"But you always try to avoid me, so I don't get many chances to do it," Yui complained.

"Then how about you take a hint for once!?" Keima said, but stopped when Yui put a finger to his cheek.

"Don't worry, darling, I will-" she didn't say anymore, because she was pushed away by a determined looking Chihiro.

"I'd appreciate if you stayed away from my... my b-boyfriend!"

"You can't even say it properly," Yui said, her eyes also shining with determination.

"I'm warning you, Yui," Chihiro said, thinking in the back of her head how screwed this situation was. Here she was, protecting her creepy otamega boyfriend-non-boyfriend who had once broken her heart, as if he were a defenseless girl and Chihiro and Yui were two guys fighting over him... which they kinda were. "If you don't back up, I'll have you removed from the band!"

"Making me choose between two of my great loves: music and Keima-kun. That's a blow below the belt!" Yui said. "But I guess everything's fair in war and love, so-mhmg!" she was once again cut off when Ayumi grabbed her from behind and restrained her movements, one hand covering Yui's mouth.

"It was nice seeing you two," the runner said with another forced smile. "But maybe it'd be best if you were to run along now."

Neither Keima nor Chihiro objected.

(* * *)

"That Yui!" Chihiro complained ten minutes later. "She's so persistent. How come she's even here!?"

The two of them had changed their clothes at one of the dressing points, mainly to better hide in case Yui went to look for them. Chihiro was now cosplaying as a fairy completed with pink, almost translucent wings, while Keima donned a prince costume.

They were walking through the crowded halls of Dean Land. The number of people and loud voices didn't make it exactly romantic, but at least it helped to hide them – no-one would find it easy to locate them in this crowd.

Keima didn't respond to Chihiro's rhetoric question, deep in his own thought.

Was it a coincidence that Yui was there? It was the only logical explanation... at least it would be if it was just Yui. However...

Stubborn hair.

Harsh weather.

Pants-eating dogs.

Shortage of costumes.

Staff interruptions.

Meeting two of goddess host girls, one of which was bad news and the other was terrible news.

It was either a string of really bad luck or someone was doing this on purpose!

Chihiro was in thought as well.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, she wasn't sure she would be able to kick Yui out of the band if push came to shove. She also knew that Yui was a dangerous enemy. Strong-willed, dedicated, rich and curvaceous. But as dangerous as Yui was, it was not her Chihiro was worried about.

Then one who was worrying her was Ayumi.

The dark-haired runner turned out to be a decent liar, but that's it. Moreover, Chihiro knew her enough to be able to tell – Ayumi was trying to give up on Keima, but she hadn't succeeded. Not yet anyway. Chihiro was sure that if she herself didn't like Keima, Ayumi would go for him immediately. And all the things Keima had done to her or the fact that he was a heartless jerk at times wouldn't stop her. Chihiro knew this. It was why she herself was willing to try to give Keima a chance.

However, the fact remained that Ayumi liked Keima and from what Chihiro knew and from what her intuition told her, Ayumi was first. And, let's be honest, Ayumi was a sweet, good-natured and talented girl. Yes, she could be harsh and violent, but so could Chihiro. And of course Ayumi had curves even Yui would get jealous of if her personality was more demure.

In short, Chihiro felt guilty. Should she really be doing this? She wanted to be with Keima, but she hadn't given all that much thought as to how make him happy. What if Ayumi would be better at this? What did Keima even see in Chihiro? Honestly, if Chihiro were a guy, she would choose Ayumi instead of herself...

Her train of thought was broken by the sound of Keima clearing his throat.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, pointing to the WcDonalds restaurant they were just passing. It was full of people, so definitely not very romantic place. On the other hand, they could hide and rest in that crowd.

"Sure."

(* * *)

Keima had gone to one of the queues to get their orders, while Chihiro sat by one of the tables and tried to calm her nerves.

Get a grip on yourself, girl! she thought. Keima was here with you. He wasn't in that bowling alley with Ayumi or Yui. If you're so worried about others than just try more instead! Chihiro balled up her fists as a look of determination appeared on her face.

All right, she could do this!

"E-excuse me..."

Chihiro almost leaped into the air. She looked to her side only to see a very weird sight.

In front of her was some person with orange- or yellow-colored eyes. That's all Chihiro could say, because everything but the eyes, nose and lips was hidden by one of the most ridiculous costumes Chihiro had ever seen. It seemed to be a costume of a cow, except it was shaped weirdly, like the cow was not just fat, but resembling a rectangle, small hands and feet protruding from the body. Honestly, it looked more like a cow-themed chocolate bar package or something.

Maybe it wasn't a customer but an employee advertising something?

"Sorry, but I'm not interested in whatever you're selling," Chihiro said.

"Ah, I'm not selling anything," the costume-clad eyes said, betraying that the person inside the outfit was a girl, "I was just wondering if I could sit here."

Chihiro narrowed her eyes suspiciously and looked the girl over, in case she was someone Chihiro knew, but no – she didn't know anyone with eyes, voice and posture like that.

And indeed, there was next to none free seats and the only ones available were by the table with some guys. For some reason Chihiro understood why the girl would prefer to sit with her instead of with them.

"Sure," Chihiro said. She wouldn't get anywhere with Keima in a fast-food restaurant anyway.

The girl smiled and somehow managed to sit down in that costume, even though it was clear that the outfit was troublesome.

"Why don't you take that off?" Chihiro asked.

"It's fine," the girl said with a smile that was as sincere as the one the band leader saw on Ayumi a few minutes ago. Chihiro couldn't understand why anyone would continue wearing such a cumbersome and embarrassing outfit despite clearly not enjoying it, but she chose to ignore it.

After all, she was used to weird people, if Keima's, Yui's and Eri's antics were any indication...

The girl pulled out a bag with her order – French fries and a giant sandwich – and started eating happily.

Now, while Chihiro's favorite snack were meat buns, she wouldn't mind a good-tasting junk food in a while, especially since her recent diet made it difficult to have any. In other words, she was almost drooling when she watched the other girl eat.

Damn, how long was Keima going to ta-

"I'm back," she could hear Keima's voice and turned to see him back with a tray full of food. The other girl turned to him and only then Keima noticed her.

"Who's that?" he asked.

"Ah, she didn't have anywhere to sit, so I let her join us," Chihiro explained. Keima wasn't mad, was he?

"I see," he put the food down and sat as well.

Now that he was back Chihiro's mind returned to the issue of them and she suddenly felt embarrassed by the presence of the other girl. She turned to have a glance at her... only to notice that the girl stopped eating. She was just slowly chewing the French fry in her mouth.

Her eyes were fixed on Keima.

The girl's gaze was weird. On one hand she didn't act as if she had been expecting to see Keima here. Bah, it looked as if she saw him for the first time in her life. On the other hand, her gaze held something deeper as if she recognized something in Keima after all.

Thank God Keima himself didn't seem to notice her gaze at all.

They started eating and seeing that, the other girl resumed her meal as well. However, Chihiro was certain. Her gaze didn't leave Keima at all.

"Is something wrong?" Chihiro asked, surprised how much malice got into her voice.

"Aah, it's nothing," the girl said as she fidgeted. "It's just this costume. Maybe you were right and I should take it off."

Keima almost choked on one of his own French fries. That voice... it did sound familiar. He turned to get one more look at the girl, just as she pulled down the zipper on her costume.

As soon as the costume opened, Keima started to sweat and Chihiro's jaw all but hit the table.

Holy cow!

Chihiro knew Ayumi was very cute and attractive girl, definitely prettier than Chihiro herself. Yui was a league or two above the band leader as well. Eri could serve as definition of cuteness. The same could be said about Kanon-chan, especially when she was on stage and with all the make-up. All of them were cute and beautiful, but somehow the girl in front of Chihiro right now was a league above them all.

The girl had long platinum-colored hair, adorned with a golden headband. A cross-shaped necklace was hanging from her neck slightly above a sizeable chest. She was wearing a shirt with a big "C++ for life!" label in front and a skirt that was unfathomable in winter. Her complexion was perfect as well. Seriously, she looked more like a western model than a Japanese girl.

"Where are my manners", the girl said as soon as she crossed her long shapely legs after putting them out of the costume, "I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Tōru. Tōru Amami."

She said this even though Chihiro had a feeling the girl didn't plan to introduce herself before.

"Aah... my name is Chihiro... Chihiro Kosaka," the normal girl responded, suddenly feeling more normal than ever.

"Keima Katsuragi," the gamer said, sounding reluctant.

"That's a nice name," the girl called Tōru said with a soft smile, her hand going for her hair and twirling one of the locks in a seemingly unconscious gesture.

Keima didn't say anything, his mind working overtime to try and stave off the incoming panic attack.

What was Tōru doing here!? he screamed internally. Okay, he had met her in Dean Land before, but one of her crucial attributes was "randomness", so bumping into her like this should be really unlikely. Furthermore, why today of all days?

Seriously, first Ayumi and Yui and now Tōru. Just how cruel was the real going to be!?

Who'd be next? Asami Yoshino?

"Are you alright, Keima-kun?" his musings were interrupted by Tōru's voice. Did she just call him by his first name despite the fact that he should be a stranger to her now? And why was her voice suddenly so melodic? It was as if...

"Yes, it's just a bit hot in here" he replied, fixing his own outfit.

"Aah... this costume," Tōru said smiling, "it fits you well, handsome prince."

If after this comment Keima still didn't realize that Tōru was flirting with him, then the dreadful aura Chihiro suddenly started to emit surely make him realize it.

This was ridiculous. Sure, Keima had conquered Tōru before, so her having lingered feelings for him wasn't so surprising, but out of all his past conquest targets she was the girl who was the most wary about men. Why was she doing it and so openly like that!?

Does not compute!

"Is something wrong, Chihiro-san?" Tōru asked, apparently noticing the aura around the normal girl as well.

Honestly, Keima expected a slap. Or for Chihiro to just stand up and walk away (possibly after slapping him). He could also predict her trying to shrug it off. However, what happened next exceeded all of his expectations.

"No, of course not," Chihiro said while she lifted her hand on the table before boldly interlacing her fingers with Keima's, "everything's fine."

Tōru didn't seem to hear that, her gaze locked on Chihiro's and Keima's joined hands, totally missing the look on Keima's face. After a few seconds the girl looked up, the expression on her face unreadable despite ample lighting.

"Excuse me for asking this," Tōru said, "but are you two siblings?"

"What!?" Chihiro hollered earning her a few curious gaze from the surrounding tables.

"It's just that you look really similar with your haircuts and hair colors," the blonde girl explained. "So..."

"No, we're not siblings!" Chihiro exclaimed. "We got different surnames, for God's sake!"

It was quiet for second and then Tōru's face went red.

"You're right, how weird I haven't noiced that" she said, before suddenly looking in the direction of the exit, "aah, it seems my parents are here." she said, "I've gotta go."

She didn't sound very sincere though. Not to mention that Keima knew her parents were rather strict and they most certainly didn't even know Tōru was here.

"It was very nice meeting you, Keima-kun, Chihiro-san," Tōru bowed, took her costume and leftovers of her food and left.

(* * *)

"I take back everything that I've ever said about you being a dweeb, nerd and loser," Chihiro said when they left the WcDonalds a few minutes later and were once again walking through the crowds.

Once upon the time she had thought she was a dull-as-dishwater or at most just a normal girl... and that Keima was a crazy weirdo no-one would want to get close to... Then somehow she had in some mysterious way realized there was more to her than that and she stopped making excuses or giving up so easily. The change wasn't phenomenal, but it was enough for her to try more, feel better about herself and even start a band and a light music club. In the midst of that she had discovered that maybe she'll never be as special as the likes of Kanon-chan, but she could rise above everyone even if it was just for a bit...

As for Keima... well, Chihiro had come to realize he might not be _that_ creepy as she had previously thought and she started to develop feelings for him. However, she had thought it was just an irrational whim of her heart, as there was no _reason_ for her to like someone as useless and undesirable as Keima.

However, now Chihiro was forced to change her opinion – not only she no longer thought Keima was as undesirable as she once had, but he apparently had enough going for him to catch an interest of a girl like that blonde bombshell back then...

"Seriously, who was that... girl?" she asked Keima, not even sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

Keima bit his lip. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell Chihiro about Tōru's background. How would she react knowing Tōru's family was stinking rich, probably up there with Goidōs and Shiratoris as far as wealth alone went?

"It was a girl I helped with something before," he said, painfully aware that no matter what he'd say it won't end pretty. Real was just like that.

"It must've been some help," Chihiro said, torn between angry and jealous, "you certainly made a great 'hero' impression on her..."

"She doesn't even know it was me who helped her," Keima explained, "for her it's kinda like she's seeing me for the first time."

"Like hell she was!" Chihiro gritted her teeth. "She stayed in that bizarre outfit for a reason and then you arrived and she suddenly becomes all flirty! The way she was looking at you. You want to tell me that's how a girl like that reacts to you? Y-you want to tell me girls often react like that to you?"

"Not really..." he said.

Chihiro had a point though.

True, Keima could charm real girls when it was for the conquest, but he wasn't normally in conquest mode, so girls didn't have any reason to swoon over him, especially since he was usually isolating himself from the real world.

Moreover, Chihiro was right about Tōru. One of her attributes was wariness of men, where the girl would use ridiculous clothing and actions to discourage or scare the men away – which would explain that ridiculous cow outfit. But what Tōru did once she had seen him made no sense! She shouldn't remember her conquest or at least Keima's involvement in it! Keima had played enough games with amnesia plot and the like to know that sometimes unconscious feelings remained, but in the case of Tōru it didn't make sense to become flirty like that out of the blue!

If Keima's intuition was right then the poor blonde girl was just now probably hiding in some secluded part of the complex, embarrassed out of her mind, and wondering why did she flirt with him in the first place. Keima couldn't blame her – it didn't make sense for him too.

Then again, things that don't make sense sounded exactly like something real world would do... except it was too much. This date had turned into a string of bad luck with one misfortune after another.

It was as if the real was taking revenge on Keima for everything he'd done until now.

"Why?" he suddenly heard Chihiro speak.

"Why what?" he asked.

"Why didn't you go for that girl?" Chihiro clarified.

Keima stopped and continued to look at Chihiro, who stopped as well, looking away from him, cheeks red, neither paying any attention to people passing them by.

"What do you mean?" he asked. At this Chihiro turned to him, an angry expression on her face.

"Don't play dumb!" people started to look at them. "You saw what Ayumi was willing to do for you!" she said. "She might pretend she's over you, but she isn't! If you choose to be with her, she'd accept you, even if it'd take some time. She's stubborn, after all!"

Keima was about to respond, but Chihiro was on the roll.

"And you can't tell me you don't see how Yui feels about you. Even your nerdy glass-framed eyes can't be that blind! Not to mention that blonde girl back there! Why didn't you go for any of them?"

"Right," Keima replied dryly, "cause all these years I've always expressed the desire to be with real life girls."

"Exactly," Chihiro told him, "you don't like real girls. You disliked them even! In that case why are you here with me? Could it be..." she paused hesitating, "are you here to trick me again?"

"For God's sake, no!" Keima said, "I've already told you that!"

"Then why?"

"I like you," he said plainly, "I've told you that before as well."

Chihiro looked at him for several seconds, like she was seeing him for the first time in his life.

Keima sighed and reposition his glasses.

"Let me guess," he started, "are you feeling not special again? Are you feeling inferior to Ayumi, Yui and... that other girl? Just because they run faster, can play drum better or have more money than you?"

"It's not just that," Chihiro crossed her arms over her chest. "Have you ever took a moment to see how those girls loo-"

"Don't even think about going there," Keima narrowed his eyes and suddenly Chihiro could feel some mysterious and certainly non-nerdy force radiate from him that made her stop talking.

"Don't ever think you're worse than any of them," he told her, "heroine's charm and love are not flimsy things like that!"

Chihiro remembered the "wedding" thing he had with Ayumi. Back then he was also spewing something about "love being heavier than the entire world" and whatnot. It sounded too idealistic, obviously something taken from his games... but right at the moment, it made sense for some reason.

"You mean..."

"I like you the way you are," Keima told her, "Ayumi or Yui aren't going to change this. I wouldn't be here otherwise."

Chihiro remained still for a moment and then her face heated up and Keima could see seeds of wetness in the corner of her eyes. Please tell him those were good tears.

"So you want to be with someone like me?"

"Yes."

"Even if we're mistaken for siblings?"

He nodded.

"Even with all the things I used to say about you?"

"Yes," he all but groaned. "If you'll have me."

Somehow those words reignited the determination Chihiro normally only felt when her band was involved. It was different from her usual short-lived ideas. She looked at Keima and their eyes met. A flash of understanding passed between them and instantly they stepped closer, their hands clasping the other person's like in a vow.

"The pesky real," Keima started, his sharp eyes focused and determined, "today it seems to be doing everything to interrupt our date..."

"...in that case, let's fight it!" Chihiro continued, a cheeky confident smile on her face, "let's give it our best shot and show the world that we can do it!"

"Let's make this date a success!" they're both shouted as they started to walk, their hands interlaced.

Bring it on real!

(* * *)

And the real did bring it on.

Keima and Chihiro went for a roller-coaster ride. Keima tried his best, but ultimately couldn't stomach a ride at such speeds and ended up rushing to the bathroom afterwards.

Then they went for karaoke, which Chihiro was especially eager to try (Keima wasn't as enthusiastic) only to discover that all karaoke booths were currently occupied.

Another attraction was indoor go-kart racing track. It sounded nice, but the moment Keima and Chihiro saw Ayumi in one of the go-karts, they decided to move along.

Then there was another attraction Keima wanted to try. It was a mix of a haunted house and a swimming pool where visitors would rent swimming suits and would go through knee-deep water. Red-stained water, unseen hands grabbing their ankles and shivers due to cold water would all create a sense of thrill. Keima had been here once with Asami Yoshino and she kept clinging to him whenever something happened, so he had hoped something like that would happen with Chihiro too...

...except that particular attraction was closed due to pipe damage from cold.

And then there was the gaming center. Obviously it wasn't the best venue for the couple to spend their time... except for claw prize machines. Chihiro could pretend all she wanted, but Keima could see how cute she found one of the pink rabbit-like plushies inside. And claw machines like that were no problem for the likes of Keima Katsuragi.

It was a perfect plan... Keima performed all the motions flawlessly and watched as the claw descended to grab the prize... only to have a group of teens run by, one of them smashing into the machine, somehow making it wobble a bit and moving the plushie out of the way of the claw.

(* * *)

"Umm, thank you," Chihiro told him, holding the plushie she wanted, after watching Keima stubbornly use a lot of money to unearth it from under other plushies.

"You're welcome," Keima said calmly, though he wasn't just as calm inside.

This string of a bad luck... It looked as if Keima was in an RPG and was rolling one critical failure after another...

'C'mon real', he thought, 'I'm not asking a lot... just a tiny bit of good luck would be enough.'

"Hey, what's this?" he heard Chihiro say.

He looked where she was pointing to and he saw another attraction. It had people enter small boats in pairs and go through a passage with "Love Tunnel" written above it.

An attraction for couples. Keima had seen something similar in Dezeni Sea that one time he had went there with Tenri and Haqua.

His eyes narrowed.

"Alright, let's do this."

Chihiro agreed and after some time spend int the queue the two of them were inside a boat of their own, riding through the tunnel, which was growing more and more pink the further they went into it. Seriously, it was making Keima's eyebrow twitch a little, but he remained calm. He'll do it for Chihiro's sake. And Chihiro seemed to like it. It stayed like that for a while and the dimly-lit tunnel was becoming more romantic, when suddenly the boat stopped moving forward. The water current was no more.

"What now?" Chihiro asked.

Keima looked around and immediately saw what they were supposed to do.

"I think we should use this," he pointer to a pair of oars conveniently lying on a artificial rock shelf.

"We're supposed to row the boat ourselves?" Chihiro asked as she took one oar from Keima. The boy pointed at the sign above the shelf. Chihiro saw it read 'it takes two to tango'.

"I think it is meant to have a couple work together to propel the boat forward," he said, "if we don't synchronize our movements we might end up moving in circles."

Chihiro snorted. "How difficult could that be?" she said. "Let's do this!"

(* * *)

Things went well for a while as it wasn't too difficult to row the boat, even if their movements and synchronization weren't perfect. After some time they understood what the difficult part was. The water started going upslope. Soon they have noticed some other couples who were struggling with the current. There was also a place where they could get off the board if they didn't want to continue.

However, they decided to give it a try.

Thus they continued to row upstream with considerable difficulty. Sometimes they lost a few meters at once, but they gritted their teeth and pushed onward. Finally, after surprisingly long time they've reached the peak and saw a congratulation sign. Here was another wharf-like structure designed to end their trip. However, there was also another way, this time leading downstream, like a regular canoeing course. Seriously, how could such a thing fit into this building? Was it placed underground or something? This could explain that the air felt colder here. Keima suggested they could leave already, but Chihiro was stubborn.

"Come on, we can do this!" she told him.

Keima wasn't so sure.

And not a thirty seconds later his suspicion was confirmed.

"Slow down!" he told Chihiro, trying to row back to prevent them from gaining too much momentum.

"But we're so close!" the girl said back. "The faster we'll go the sooner we'll be done with this!"

During their discussion they didn't noticed an obstacle in front of them.

"Waah!" Chihiro noticed it at least. "Turn the boat! Turn the boat around!" she screamed.

Keima obliged and they both started to row frantically.

Except they were rowing in opposite directions.

"What are you doing!?"

"Look out!"

It was too late. They barely manged to brace themselves when the side of their boat collided with the obstacle at considerable speed. The boat started to shake and for a moment Keima thought it would flip over. But somehow the boat stayed on the surface.

During the commotion Keima felt another, softer collision and opened his eyes, only to see that the force of the crash has pushed Chihiro right into his arms – it was just like during Mai-High festival, when he and Chihiro were chasing after Ayumi while they themselves were chased by Vintage agents... except there was no Vintage this time around, which made Keima realized something.

Chihiro felt right in his arms.

"Umm... the boat is okay," Chihiro said quietly, her face all red.

"Yeah," Keima agreed, suddenly out of words.

"Hehe," Chihiro smiled, closing her eyes in happiness or embarrassment, "told you so."

Keima didn't get to respond as their boat suddenly collided into another obstacle. The boat didn't flip, but Chihiro was totally unprepared for it and lost her balance. She extender her hand and Keima went for it, but it was too late and Chihiro fell out of the boat and went underwater.

"Chihiro!" Keima yelled and saw the girl emerge amidst the waves.

"Shit!" he said as he took a dive himself.

(* * *)

"Why did you do it?" Chihiro asked ten minutes later.

Both of them were inside one of the administration rooms, wrapped in towels, trying to warm their bodies. The attraction staff wasn't really surprised when they fell out of the boat. Apparently they weren't the first couple to do it today.

"What do you mean?" Keima asked.

"Why did you jump out after me?" she asked and when Keima looked lost she added. "Look, I know it's winter and the water was cold, but all that could happen was me getting a cold. The water wasn't even deep to begin with."

Keima was silent for a moment and then he looked down, the blush of embarrassment clear even with his face cast in shadow. And then he mumbled something.

"What was that?" Chihiro got closer to hear better.

"I promised you I'll always save you when you're in need... and I just reacted and-"

"Whoa! Hold on," Chihiro's eyes were wide. "You promised me? When did you do such a thing?"

Keima sighed.

"It's a really long and complicated story..."

"I see," Chihiro said, trying to hide her disappointment.

"...but I guess you need to know this," he continued, making her blink. "We have some time before we'll dry, so might as well tell you."

And Keima told her. About his contract with the devils, about the goddesses and time travel. About how he conquered a lot of girls, including Ayumi, Yui, Tōru and Chihiro herself. About the promise he had made to her. There was a lot more to explain, but he supposed it wasn't important for now.

After he was done, Chihiro's eyes could as well be a pair of UFO-sized saucers.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked, her eyebrow twitching, but not in anger. "Okay, I can believe _some_ of that, I guess, but most of it has to be a lie!"

"Like what?" Keima asked. "Me time traveling?"

"No," Chihiro said. "You kissing Kanon Nakagawa."

"She was the one who kissed me, but yeah" Keima noticed and then looked at Chihiro. "So you don't believe me?"

Chihiro sighed. "Seriously, I would like to not believe you... but some things make more senses now... so Ayumi has an actual goddess inside of her?"

"Yes."

"And you still chose me?"

"You wouldn't be so surprised if you knew how troublesome those goddesses can be," Keima replied. "Also I'm sorry."

Chihiro raised her eyebrows. "For what?"

"For breaking your heart and lying to you back in front of my house for once," he said, "also for looking at you when you were out of the water."

Chihiro's eyes widened again. The costume she was wearing got pretty see-through after it got and she had caught Keima looking once they were out of the water. And of course she had ended up punching him and yelling at him. She regretted it now though. She was just embarrassed about her own body. What was there to look at?

"No, it's my fault, I exaggerated," she told him, "you were just trying to help. No need to be sorry for that."

"So I don't have to be sorry about messing up the date?" he asked.

Chihiro made a sound he had least expected.

She was laughing.

Frankly, it wasn't really that uncommon for her to laugh at him, but this time it was different. She wasn't making fun of him. She was laughing merrily. Like he had just made a great joke or something.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"It's not really funny," Chihiro said after a moment, "it's just... you have nothing to be sorry for."

"You're joking," he told her, "it was supposed to be a great date to make up for what I've done before. It was supposed to be the greatest date of your life."

To his surprise Chihiro burst out laughing again.

"What's up with you?" he asked now slightly irritated.

"You're an idiot," she told him.

A moment of silence.

"Do explain."

"You say it as if went on a thousand dates before," Chihiro said, "but in truth, I only went on two. Both with you."

Keima looked at her blankly. It was all but obvious that Chihiro didn't have any other dating experience. So why did it seem as if he didn't think about that before?

"True, it could be better, but this time you gave it your all and continued to try and please me despite all the bad luck," she told him, "you didn't break my heart. You showed me you want to be with me despite me being me... and you even jumped to save me from drowning. I admit, that was the most romantic part of that Love Tunnel thing."

"You say it as if you enjoyed falling out of the boat," Keima noticed.

"Well, I've never done that and I did drink some water..." Chihiro said. "But it was the first time a guy came to my rescue, so it was kinda nice."

"So you mean that this date..."

"It wasn't perfect, but still, it was the best date of my life... well, so far at least," she added, "so you better bring on even better date some time."

"And what if the next date turns out just like this one?" Keima said as he gestured to all of Dean Land.

"Frankly? I don't care," Chihiro said, "all kind of embarrassing, unlucky and bad stuff happened today. I think this is a good sign."

"How come?" Keima asked.

"Well, if we survived this and still want to be together, then I'm pretty sure we can survive anything life will throw at us," she finished as she blushed.

Keima continued to stare at her for several seconds until his own face went aflame and he looked away.

"I-if you say so," he mumbled.

"Heh, I never thought I'd say it," Chihiro said as she poked his cheek with her finger, "but you're cute when you are like that."

Keima looked at her and was about to say something, but Chihiro took her finger back and replaced it with her lips, pushing them against his in a sweet kiss.

"Hehe," she said as she pulled back a moment later, "you're even cuter now..."

"S-shut up," he said and did the only thing he could think of to truly shut up that S-rank mouth of hers.

He kissed her as well.

And Chihiro kissed back, mhming into the kiss.

When they separated their looked into each other's eyes.

"I like you, Katsuragi," Chihiro said.

"I like you too, Chihiro," Keima replied, "and please call me Keima."

"Okay, K-Keima," Chihiro said and then leaned onto his shoulder, probably to hide her embarrassment.

Keima smiled. This felt similar to how their second kiss went. Back then she also hid in his shoulder when she was embarrassed. Only this time it went alright and for once the real choose to go along with the-

At this moment one of Dean Land employees entered the room, startling Keima and Chihiro and making them separate.

"I'm really sorry for making you wait," the employee said politely, placing a change of clothes on the table, "but I managed to secure a princess outfit for your sister," the employee then stopped, sensing the dreadful aura coming from Chihiro.

"Is it common for sister and brother to go into a Love Tunnel canoeing?" she asked, the look on her face making the employee step back in fear just as Chihiro yelled for the entire building to hear her.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, WE'RE NOT SIBLINGS!"

 **(* * *)**

 **Here you have it: just over 9000 words of Chihiro and Keima trying to survive through the date without yielding to the pesky reality.**

 **Writing a Chihiro x Keima centered fanfiction was a first for me and certainly a different experience compared to writing about other Keima pairings, but it was still nice and I think I managed to put here everything I originally planned. I admit it's not exactly perfect (as there are some out-of-character parts here and there and whatnot), but it still came out rather nice in my opinion, managing to combine humor with sweetness (and with long-ass character inner thoughts, but, what's new there? :P).**

 **Sooo... do you agree with me? Did you like the story? If yes then don't hesitate to leave a review! Favorites and follows would be nice too!**

 **As a side note, if there are people who know about The World God Only Knows light novels then they'd probably notice I referenced a lot of stuff from them like** **Tōru Amami, mention of Asami Yoshino, a certain haunted dating sim game and Dean Land itself (from the costumes through attractions to Keima's "job" as fashion consultant).  
**

 **Of course, there's also a bunch of other references including plushies and certain green-clad heroes. :P**

 **Also, this is my third one-shot, but I'm planning to do at least two more. One dedicated to Tenri Ayukawa and one dedicated to Haqua du Lot Herminium. Of course KanonNomi takes priority for now, but I hope I'll be able to write those one-shots sometime in the not-so-distant future. Please look forward to those!**

 **Anyway, that's it folks!**

 **See you next time, hopefully when the next chapter of KanonNomi is released (which might take some time)!**


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